Coal Statistics

Coal provides around 30.1% of global primary energy needs, generates over 40% of the world's electricity and is used in the production of 70% of the world's steel.

Total Global Coal Production

7823Mt (2013e)

7794Mt (2012)

4677Mt (1990)

Top Ten Coal Producers (2013e)

PR China

3561Mt

Russia

347Mt

USA

904Mt

South Africa

256Mt

India

613Mt

Germany

191Mt

Indonesia

489Mt

Poland

143Mt

Australia

459Mt

Kazakhstan

120Mt

Total world coal production reached a record level of 7822.8Mt in 2013, increasing by 0.4% in comparison to the previous year.

Top Ten Steam Coal Producers (2013e)

PR China

3034Mt

Australia

239Mt

USA

756Mt

Russia

201Mt

India

526Mt

Kazakhstan

103Mt

Indonesia

486Mt

Colombia

81Mt

South Africa

255Mt

Poland

65Mt

Top Ten Coking Coal Producers (2013e)

PR China

527Mt

Canada

34Mt

Australia

158Mt

Mongolia

20Mt

USA

78Mt

Ukraine

20Mt

Russia

73Mt

Kazakhstan

12Mt

India

42Mt

Poland

12Mt

Top Ten Brown Coal Producers (2013e)

Germany

183Mt

Australia

63Mt

Russia

73Mt

Greece

54Mt

USA

70Mt

India

45Mt

Poland

66Mt

Czech Republic

40Mt

Turkey

63Mt

Serbia

40Mt

Reserves

There are two internationally recognised methods for assessing world coal reserves. The first one is produced by the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and is used by the IEA as the main source of information about coal reserves. The second one is produced by the World Energy Council (WEC) and is used by the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

According to BGR there are 1052 billion tonnes of coal reserves left, equivalent to 134.5 years of global coal output in 2013. Coal reserves reported by WEC are much lower - 892 billion tonnes, equivalent to 113 years of coal output.

Coal in Electricity Generation (2012)

Coal is the major fuel used for generating electricity worldwide. In 2013 coal was used to generate over 40% of the world's electricity.

Mongolia

95%

India

71%

Germany

44%

South Africa

93%

Australia

69%

USA

38%

Poland

83%

Israel

61%

UK

39%

PR China

81%

Indonesia

48%

Japan

21%

Coal & Steel

Approximately 15% (over 1.2 billion tonnes) of total coal production is currently used by the steel industry and roughly 70% of total global steel production is dependent on coal.

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